Spring Break 2016

Tanner had a week long Spring Break back in March, and we sure took advantage of it! That first Saturday was filled with adventuring with the Fabrizios. We went all over the city, and it was seriously the best being explorers. 

I worked on Monday, and then Tuesday morning we picked up Melissa who had been in Florida working, and we drove with the Sloans to Newport! It was Easter weekend, so two other couples were able to join us at the end of the week, and it was just so fun. We stayed up all night laughing, and it was such a great memory to share together!

Captain Crunch every morning for me!

Sunsets and Palm Trees. I really don't think there's anything better!

our easter and #ldsconf weekend

our weekend started early when tanner's parents and brother arrived to utah on wednesday. we went to salt lake to have lunch with them, and tanner's class got cancelled, and i was able to find a gymnastics sub, so we stayed all night and hung out. that's how we roll! 

the next morning i got to pick up my shelley mae who i hadn't seen since christmas! (technically we saw eachother in january, but it was for like 10 seconds-doesn't count). we did what we do best: errands, shop, and eat in n out. sadly, the only pictures i have of us are being weird and creepy with our hamburgers, but that's normal for us.

That night we headed back up to salt lake to be with the zylstra's, and have dinner at the roof in the joseph smith building. i always love the view of that gorgeous temple!

friday night i worked in the evening, but i was able to meet up with my parents who had just arrived, and tanner (who was paintballing with the brothers and he still talks about how much he loved it everyday) for dinner at brio. i just want everyone to know that i changed out of my work clothes into something for dinner, did my hair and makeup, all on the freeway. pretty impressive, right? i don't even think anyone saw either... :)

saturday morning we grabbed some donuts at the delicious banbury cross downtown, then headed to the afternoon session of lds general conference.

later that evening, the boys went to priesthood session, and my mom and i had a blast "walking" around city creek. don't tell dad...

here we are resting and chatting in restoration hardware

the next morning was Easter and it was so fun! the easter bunny (my momma) gave us some easter baskets with goodies, and then we headed to another afternoon session of conference. i'm really sad this was our "last" time watching conference in the conference center. I just love the tradition with my parents!

since we were staying at the hotel, we wanted to have an easter dinner, so we got to try the copper onion. SO good. must go. 

after, we drove around the capitol looking at houses, and came across this beautiful cemetary. my dad was also loving that he found a "Rogers" and reading all the names was cool!

we went home that night after a very fun weekend feeling blessed with amazing family and friends. 

carrot cake poke cake

last year I made the delicious carrot cake poke cake and it was so good, that I made it for our family Easter dinner again! and this time I took a picture of it!!

Carrot Cake Poke Cake

Followed from Something Swanky

I used a boxed Betty Crocker Carrot Cake. I was able to find the Cream Cheese Cool Whip frosting, and don't go without. The topping on this cake will make you die and then wake up, and eat some more. I did not use nuts on top, because some of our friends are allergic.

Ingredients

• The 9x13 Carrot Cake recipe of your choice, baked and cooled (I used a box mix)
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 8 oz Cool Whip
• 10.6 oz Cool Whip Vanilla Frosting (Cream Cheese flavor if your store carries it, mine doesn't)
• 6 oz (half a tub) of whipped cream cheese (must be whipped)
• Approx. 1/2 cup caramel sundae sauce (just pour on as much or as little as you'd like)
• Approx. 1 cup chopped pecans (sprinkle on as much or as little as you'd like)

Instructions

1. Leave the cake in the dish it was baked in-- this is not a free standing cake.
2. Poke approximately 20-25 holes, spread evenly, over the top of the cake with the bottom of a wooden spoon. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over top, trying to fill the holes as much as possible.
3. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the cool whip, the cool whip frosting, and the whipped cream cheese until smooth. Spread over top of the cake.
4. Pour the caramel sauce over top of the cake, and sprinkle with chopped pecans.
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, really overnight is best.
6. Cut into 12 squares to serve (you can cut more, 1/12 is a pretty large piece!).

cool whip frosting is not the same thing as cool whip, but located right next to each other. I was able to find it last year, but it wasn't available this yer, so I don't know if they stopped making it?? anyways, I just made a basic cream cheese/cool whip frosting, and it was still delish... but what isn't when it has cream cheese! right?